Purple’s shares surge as it announces e-wallet partnership in Asia
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Purple Group chief executive Charles Savage. Picture, Supplied
Purple Group’s share price surged 10.95 percent on Friday morning after announcing it had reached a partnership agreement with an e-wallet provider in the Asia-Pacific region.
In a JSE market announcement, Purple Group said the provider, which had requested not to be named before its commercial product launch next month. will offer the EasyEquities investing services to its significant user base in the region, comprising “tens of millions of users”, through its e-wallet app.
Purple Group owns the online platforms EasyEquities, EasyProperties, EasyCrypto and GT247.com.
Its EasyEquities platform, started in 2014, caters to all investors, and also allows them to buy fractional ownership of shares listed on the JSE and the New York Stock Exchange. It has over a million users.
EasyEquities’ revenue increased by 27.9 percent to R108.7 million in the six months to February 28, despite its clients’ portfolio turnover activity returning to normalised levels, reflective of pre-Covid levels.Group headline earnings per share increased by 91.8 percent to 1.63 cents per share over the period, compared with the same period a year before.
Purple’s share price, which was trading at R2.23, has gained 57 percent over 12 months, although the price spiked to as high as R3.43 in January prior to the global sell off of technology stocks.
“This is an exciting opportunity for EasyEquities and the Purple Group to expand its product offering into the Asia-Pacific region, with a significant distribution partner, spearheading our global expansion plans,” said Purple Group chief executive Charles Savage.
Earlier this month Savage and his team concluded an EasyEquities Asia-Pacific roadshow, which he said took four weeks, in four countries, with more than 40 meetings and a “world of opportunities” for fintechs.
EasyEquities has recently also announced partnership plans with Telkom and Discovery.
Former FNB chief executive and entrepreneur Michael Jordaan said on Twitter about the deal: “My generalised advice to South African startups is to first win their home games (before expanding abroad). Purple Group/ EasyEquities is a great example. Having built a great investment platform locally, they are now entering the Asia-Pacific region, using their hard-earned insights.”
Similarly, GenZInvestor @GenZInvestor4 said on the same platform: “So we got the Discovery partnership around the corner giving access to 450 000 users. On top of this, The Asia Pacific E-wallet provider is giving access to tens of millions of users. The future looks very bright for Purple Group shareholders.”
BUSINESS REPORT